The apartment was enchanting. French doors edged the living room and opened onto a terrace with a lovely view of rooftops, some of which were still dotted with snow from the day before. There was a formal dining room but tonight it was being used a bit casually, as a buffet was set up. But there was nothing casual about the display. Fancy English food. Roast beef with the bone in on a sideboard and a waiter in a white coat carving it and offering horseradish or mustard sauce. On the table were silver bowls filled with Yorkshire Pudding, creamed spinach, string beans, and boiled potatoes drenched in butter and decorated with parsley. Tess couldn’t help but wonder what was for dessert.

“We’ve eaten thanks,” she said to Colin who then led them back to his bedroom which had a sitting room as well as a bedroom, as if it were his own suite, and sure enough there was a hockey table set up in the sitting room.

Tess sat on the couch and watched quietly as Max and Colin played an incredibly competitive game of table hockey until a strange thing happened. Max whacked the puck back at Colin fast, so that it practically flew, sliding across the table missing all the paddles. But Colin didn’t seem to be paying attention, at all. It was as if he was just standing there, possibly not seeing, or not seeing them, or not seeing the round puck sliding toward him at breakneck speed across the table. It was very strange. It seemed to Tess that Colin was almost, well, mesmerized wasn’t the right word, but it was as if he was fixed in space for a moment.

Max’s cries of “hurrah” as he’d won the game seemed to bring Colin back to earth. Tess wondered what he could have been thinking about so hard, because she assumed that was what it was, that Colin had become lost in thought, which is not a good idea in the middle of a competitive sports match especially if you’re one of the players.

Colin conceded the game, somewhat elegantly. “Well done!” he said sounding very English. And then asked Tess if she wanted to play her brother. It was as if he’d skipped a beat in time, hadn’t been aware of the fact that he’d sort of been frozen for a moment or less elegantly put, spaced out.

Tess shook her head. She didn’t think she wanted to take a chance at the hockey table.

“There are lovely desserts, I bet, put out by now,” Colin added, which sounded excellent to Max and Tess, especially Tess as she could hear the live music from the living room, laughter, and the tinkling of ice. Tess was always one for dancing, or at least watching it, if dancing itself wasn’t on the table.

~ CHAPTER ELEVEN ~

gliding through the party